A training centre for juvenile offenders in Yala has been closed after authorities confirmed 21 more Covid-19 infections, bringing the total from the centre to 23.
The first two positive tests at the Region 9 training centre were recorded on Thursday, the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection said. All people who came into contact with the infected youths were immediately quarantined, said Pol Lt Col Warranphong Khotcharak, the department chief.
The centre has set up a field hospital at the compound and conducted swab tests on all 188 youths and staff there. The results showed 21 youths tested positive for Covid but they were asymptomatic, he said. They had stayed in the same rooms as the first two infected people, he added.
The centre has been closed and the remaining youths and staff quarantined pending another round of testing.
Pol Lt Col Warranphong insisted that the department would be able to control the disease outbreak and would not conceal information.
The department earlier conducted mass testing at youth training centres in the high-risk provinces of Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan and found no coronavirus infections. It then extended testing to its centres in other provinces.
Coronavirus cases by the thousands have been reported at prisons housing adults across the country. The scale of the infections was only disclosed to the public after a high-profile activist revealed she had tested positive for Covid-19 while behind bars.
The Department of Corrections on Saturday reported an additional 842 infections, which will be added to the national total on Sunday. The findings bring the total found in its prisons since April 1 to 14,049 or 4.5% of the prison population.
The department is considering granting more prisoners parole or offering them a reduction in their sentences to ease overcrowding, which is believed to be the main cause of the spread of the virus in its facilities.
